No one should be surprised that political posturing is taking priority over meaningful debate as policymakers struggle to find solutions to gun violence in America, particularly in our nation’s schools.

Shortly after the Cottonwood-Oak Creek School Board this week agreed to close down Cottonwood Elementary School and later reinvent portions of it as an early childhood development center, a Facebook post characterized C-OC School Superintendent Steve King as “an education genius.”

As Supervisor Garrison explains, “The intent of this meeting is to dispel any stories about the City of Cottonwood pursuing annexation and to answer questions from those who fear that such a process could be undertaken without significant public participation.”

Only three of the seven members of the planning board showed up for the commission’s regularly scheduled meeting. It was only after a phone call to a fourth member that the commission met the legal quorum requirement to be able to conduct business.

Currently mired down in budget analysis, the group studying the consolidation of the Cottonwood-Oak Creek and Mingus Union school districts should slow down, take a deep breath and simplify their work.